A probing, satiric, insightful, cynical, humorous, whimsical, Pythonesque examination of politics and those who practice politics along with refreshing perspectives on the events, times, programs, legislation, rulings and pronouncements of the ruling Cabal of self-interested self serving promoters who would sacrifice everything--the land, nature, our wonderful pristine environments for personal gain and narrow interests...

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

THE MAN WHO INSTIGATED CHANGE!

THE ‘HOWARD’ FACTOR!

Once there was a guy named Howardwho entered my life and changed it all around.

It seems as if it all happened a thousand years ago now, butthe truth is that it was only yesterday. But it changed theworld in ways that only now we're beginning to understand.

I don't know how it started. Only that it happened earlyAnd it happened fast!

Everyone on the mailinglists I was involved in were so frustrated by thedemocrats invisibility in the public debate, their willingnessto cede power to the Republicans and their ability to ignore the needsof the people, that we were primed for someone to come alongto deliver us from our anxieties.

We found this Deliverer in the form of one Howard Dean, a virtually unheardof Governor from a small state that was never in the headlines for anything.

All of a sudden, this governor was starting to say the kind of things we were feeling and like wildfire we started coalescing around him. This was just around the 9-11 crisis. Before that, a friend and I had started a democratic magazine that was designed to get to the meat that everyone hinted at but nobody reported.

We were doing quite well at getting behind the stories. As a result, we were gathering support from a number of liberal and progressive publications and the support of the Internet. People like high government officials were talking to us and celebrity types like Jimmy Breslin was doing columns. It looked like we had hit a responsive chord in our marketplace; then 9-11 hit and that was the end of us. The funding simply dried up because no one would challenge a War president.

When Howard came along, he seemed like the kind of candidate we could believe in. He was saying the things that resonated with us. And he was becoming a safety valve for our own growing anger at the Republican Right Wing and the Democrats who were not standing up to be counted.

Many of us rushed to help Howard. I handled development of a base in my neck of the woods, recruiting activists and others, raising money, spreading the message and generally serving as a conduit for the Dean message.

And it got through!

Our participation grew monthly; donations were higher than other groups had raised; we were being heard by certain 'influentials' in Wilmington. People were talking us up. And there was a growing body of support throughout the state.

At some point, we were registering about 1,500 parties around the country happening simultaneously. The numbers who had joined the grass-roots organizations for Dean topped 650,000 members.

The press was beginning to follow Howard around; and that was part of the problem. Howard wasn’t allowed to make his mistakes in private or learn the subtleties of his newly adopted course. What we didn't fully realize then was that Howard had heated up too fast. As a result, the rest of the primary candidates saw him as the one to beat and focused all of their money and efforts toward that end. Howard was beaten not by the Republicans but by the same crowd that had dominated Democratic politics for decades.

For all of us, who set up the phone banks, who distributed the signs and did all of the other heavy lifting, the euphoria was gone. We had returned back to earth with a thud! What do we do now, we pondered?

Well, many of us landed on our feet. Several got behind PDA; others decided to run for office themselves and still others infiltrated the existing political system lending their acumen and their fortitude to an organization that badly needed rebuilding.

Some others of us lent our support to Kerry in various ways.

But although Howard left the candidate scene, his lessons were valuable. In the end, we all had seen that the party while still battered by the republicans was coming alive again, there were more vibrant people becoming involved with democratic issues and overall he had had a salubrious effect on what would become a mission to change the party.

Today, Howard is still there; only now he is behind the scenes orchestrating strategy and tactics and raising money for a party that is in the process of being rethought and reshaped to win the upcoming election.

And towards that end, we know that many young people at the grass-roots are working behind the scenes to make that happen!

So, while we didn’t win, we did become the instruments of change. And I wonder how many of us really realize that…

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About Me

A few things that drive me: Fair Play and representation of the smaller guy who tends to get beat up by the system.
In representing the small guy's interest in good, clean government, government that is fair to the governed--the way the Founding Fathers saw it, I like to give it back to the bullies in spades.
the guys who always complain about "our Values" those self professed arbiters of what's right and what's wrong; those guys who wave the flag and never served because they were too busy! Those Crusaders who are ready for Armegeddon!...and don't care who they sacrifice on the way!...And when I'm doing this, I also like to introduce a little levity, tweak their noses, yank their chains, inject some sarcasm and, hopefully, a little wit that flies over their heads. If you came around for the truth, good for you. If you came around the truth and the ability to give it back to the Right Wing lunatics, so much the better. With a media that's copped out, a Congress that is compliant, a government that is never mindful of those it governs, it is time for people like you and me to take back our country!